Top Maternity Hospital Architecture

Between February and May 2026, our team contracted an independent research firm, which assembled a dataset on 24 U.S. architecture firms with documented experience in maternity hospital design, including labor and delivery units, neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), mother-infant units, and dedicated women’s health facilities. We evaluated each firm using the following weighted criteria:

• Maternity & Women’s Health Portfolio Depth (32%) – Volume and complexity of completed maternity units, labor and delivery suites, NICUs, and women’s health centers
• Integrated Services Capability (18%) – Architecture, engineering, planning, and interior design delivered under one roof
• Average Review Score (15%) – Based on available Glassdoor firm ratings used as a proxy for organizational quality and design culture
• Location / US Geographic Coverage (13%) – Number and geographic distribution of U.S. studios or offices
• Firm Size & Resource Capacity (12%) – Staff headcount and ability to manage concurrent complex projects
• Evidence-Based & Family-Centered Design Credentials (10%) – EDAC certifications, AIA Healthcare Awards, LEED, and published research in birth environment design

Using this framework, we rank-ordered the top performers in the dataset. The table below highlights the top six maternity hospital architecture firms in the United States, followed by in-depth reviews of each firm.

The Top Maternity Hospital Architecture Firms of 2026

In the table below, we break down the leading maternity hospital architecture firms across our six evaluation criteria.

1. BSA, for Integrated Evidence-Based Maternity Hospital Design

BSA is the top-ranked maternity hospital architecture firm in this dataset, earning the highest composite score across all six evaluation criteria. The firm is an employee-owned, full-service firm with approximately 240 professionals across eight U.S. studios: Indianapolis, Raleigh, Charlotte, Tampa, St. Louis, Denver, Austin, and Houston. The firm’s defining structural advantage is its delivery model: architecture, mechanical and electrical engineering, commissioning, interior design, and planning operate under one roof, eliminating the coordination gaps that typically slow complex healthcare projects. For hospital administrators and health system executives managing maternity tower developments, that integration translates directly into fewer redesigns, tighter schedules, and a single accountable partner across every discipline.

BSA’s maternity hospital credentials are specific and substantial. The firm completed the Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health Maternity Tower in Indianapolis, a 190,000-square-foot new-construction project that centralized all inpatient childbirth and newborn care previously distributed across three IU Health hospitals in downtown Indianapolis. The project earned a 2022 Monumental Awards Merit Award in Engineering, a 2023 IIDA Indiana Chapter Interior Design Excellence Award in Healthcare, and a 2025 AIA Indiana Healthcare Design Honor Award. BSA has also collaborated directly with the Center for Health Design, the industry’s preeminent evidence-based design organization, producing interactive clinical environment design diagrams, a mark of the firm’s standing as a national thought leader in healing environment research.

• Location: Indianapolis, IN (HQ); Raleigh, NC; Charlotte, NC; Tampa, FL; St. Louis, MO; Denver, CO; Austin, TX; Houston, TX
• Average Review Score: 4.7/5.0
• Services Offered: Architecture, MEP Engineering, Commissioning, Interior Design, Planning, Sustainability

2. Gresham Smith, for Full-Service Maternity & Hospital System Design

Gresham Smith ranks second in this dataset. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, the firm applies a research-based, value-added philosophy to every engagement, with dedicated research and advisory service lines that extend beyond traditional architectural services to help health systems make programming, planning, and delivery decisions upstream of design. For C-suite leaders and facilities directors selecting a maternity hospital design partner, Gresham Smith offers institutional depth built from working across a wide range of patient populations, hospital scales, and regulatory environments nationwide.

On maternity and women’s health specifically, Gresham Smith has delivered several documented projects. The firm completed the Mother/Infant Unit renovation at Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center, a project recognized for its contextual design sensitivity and integration with the hospital’s existing architectural character. The firm’s full-service integration: architecture, interior design, engineering, commissioning, experiential design, wayfinding, and advisory services, makes it a compelling choice for health systems seeking a single partner across the complete project lifecycle.

• Location: Nashville, TN (HQ); plus 15+ offices across the US
• Average Review Score: 4.25/5.0
• Services Offered: Architecture, MEP Engineering, Interior Design, Planning, Commissioning, Advisory Services, Experiential Design & Wayfinding

3. Shepley Bulfinch, for Women-Led Legacy Pediatric & Maternity Design

Shepley Bulfinch is one of the few healthcare-focused firms at its scale led by women, a distinction that carries meaningful weight in a maternity and women’s health design context. Headquartered in Boston with offices in Durham, Hartford, Houston, and Phoenix, the firm brings extensive experience of institutional healthcare and academic design experience to client relationships. Its core healthcare specializations, specifically pediatric hospitals, academic medical centers, cancer care, and research facilities, place it in close proximity to maternity design by nature, given the frequent co-location of children’s hospitals with women’s health towers that defines how many major academic health systems organize their campuses.

Shepley Bulfinch’s most prominent active healthcare project is the Hale Family Building at Boston Children’s Hospital. The firm has also been engaged for comprehensive master planning of the Yale New Haven Health System, encompassing clinical services alignment across multiple campuses, including long-range planning that directly informs maternity service placement and capacity decisions. While Shepley Bulfinch does not exclusively specialize in standalone maternity hospitals, its depth in pediatric-maternity adjacency design and its women-led leadership culture make it a credible and differentiated option, particularly for academic health systems navigating maternity tower planning within larger institutional campus frameworks.

• Location: Boston, MA (HQ); Durham, NC; Hartford, CT; Houston, TX; Phoenix, AZ
• Average Review Score: 4.0/5.0
• Services Offered: Architecture, Interior Design, MEP Engineering, Planning

4. SLAM Collaborative, for Design-Build Renovation in Maternity & NICU Environments

SLAM Collaborative brings a distinct structural advantage to maternity hospital design: an integrated design-build model that combines architecture, interior design, and construction services under one umbrella. Headquartered in Glastonbury, Connecticut, with multiple locations anchored in New England and expanding nationally, the firm has built deep roots in the academic medical community of the northeastern United States. SLAM is particularly well-positioned for health systems looking to renovate or expand existing maternity facilities while maintaining 24/7 clinical operations, a scenario that demands precise phasing strategy, stringent infection control protocols, and tight coordination between design and construction from day one.

SLAM Collaborative’s most directly relevant maternity credential is the Yale New Haven Hospital NICU and Maternity Services Renovation. The project involved a full redesign of NICU patient rooms and nurse stations, executed through an extensive series of on-site design sessions that SLAM facilitated as a collaborative think-tank process, directly engaging nursing staff, neonatologists, and families in shaping the final design. This process produced a clinical environment grounded in real operational needs rather than design-team assumptions, an outcome that resonates strongly in evidence-based design and family-centered care circles. For health system leaders prioritizing speed-to-market and renovation-within-operation capability on maternity units, SLAM’s design-build delivery model combined with its documented NICU and L&D project history makes it a credible and operationally pragmatic choice.

• Location: Glastonbury, CT (HQ); multiple additional locations (New England-anchored, expanding nationally)
• Average Review Score: 3.5/5.0
• Services Offered: Architecture, Interior Design, Construction Services, Planning

5. CO Architects, for Women’s Health & Medical Campus Design in the Western US

CO Architects is the dominant maternity-adjacent hospital architecture firm in the western United States, operating from Los Angeles and San Diego. The firm has established a clear market identity around large-scale, technically complex institutional projects, for example medical education facilities, research laboratories, and comprehensive cancer centers, that increasingly define how women’s health facilities are conceived and delivered within academic health system frameworks. For health systems in the western US seeking a design partner with demonstrated sophistication in complex healthcare environments, CO Architects brings a strong portfolio of large institutional medical projects delivered at scale.

CO Architects’ maternity-relevant credentials include design work on the UCLA Health Santa Monica Medical Center and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, both of which incorporate women’s health and obstetric service lines within broader hospital campus designs. The firm’s City of Hope Plaza comprehensive cancer center earned a 2026 World Architecture News (WAN) Award and an LA Architectural Award, demonstrating capacity for nationally recognized design quality at institutional scale. One consistent strategic note: CO Architects’ geographic concentration in California limits its practical accessibility for health systems outside the western US market, and its deep academic medical focus may require calibration for community hospital or standalone maternity center clients.

• Location: Los Angeles, CA (HQ); San Diego, CA
• Average Review Score: 4.1/5.0
• Services Offered: Architecture, Interior Design, Planning, Engineering

6. Array Architects, for Outpatient & Ambulatory Maternity Access Design

Array Architects occupies a distinct position in this ranking as the most outpatient-focused firm on the list, a positioning that is strategically significant as healthcare delivery continues to shift from inpatient settings toward distributed, community-based models of care. Headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, the firm’s specialization in ambulatory care facilities, medical office buildings (MOBs), and community health centers makes it particularly well-suited for health systems building out distributed maternity access infrastructure, rather than large tertiary maternity towers.

Array Architects’ most recognized healthcare project is the Cooper University Health Care Moorestown Ambulatory Care Facility, which earned three separate healthcare design awards and demonstrated the firm’s ability to create vibrant, patient-centered outpatient environments through adaptive reuse of non-medical structures. A separate 473,000-square-foot medical center project incorporated prefabricated exterior panel cladding, signaling the firm’s engagement with modern construction efficiency strategies. Array’s scope is narrower relative to the other firms on this list: specifically, no in-house MEP engineering, and limited large-scale inpatient hospital experience, makes it most appropriate for health systems specifically focused on ambulatory or outpatient maternity program expansion.

• Location: Conshohocken, PA (HQ); FL, MA, NY, DC
• Average Review Score: 4.3/5.0
• Services Offered: Architecture, Interior Design, Space Programming, Planning

The Top Maternity Hospital Architecture Firms in the US by Subcategory

We also broke down the top maternity hospital architecture firms into three subcategories based on project type and health system priority.

1. The Top Maternity Hospital Architecture Firms in the US for Large-Scale Hospital Systems

2. The Top Maternity Hospital Architecture Firms in the US for NICU & Newborn Care Design

3. The Top Maternity Hospital Architecture Firms in the US for Renovation & Phased Healthcare Environments

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I look for when selecting a maternity hospital architecture firm?

The most important factors are the firm’s direct experience with maternity-specific spaces, such as labor and delivery suites, NICUs, mother-baby units, and postpartum care areas, and whether it can deliver integrated services in-house. Firms that combine architecture, engineering, interior design, and planning under one roof reduce coordination risk on complex projects, which is especially critical for maternity hospitals where clinical workflow, family-centered design, and technical infrastructure must align precisely. Evidence-based design credentials, such as EDAC certification or published research in birth environment design, are also meaningful indicators of a firm’s depth in this specialty.

How long does a maternity hospital design and construction project typically take?

Timelines vary considerably depending on project scope. A targeted renovation of an existing labor and delivery unit or NICU may take 18 to 36 months from initial programming to completion. A new-construction maternity tower typically spans 4 to 7 years from planning through opening, factoring in regulatory approvals, phased construction logistics, and commissioning. Integrated delivery models, where architecture and engineering are managed by a single firm, tend to compress early-phase timelines by reducing the coordination overhead that often delays traditional design-bid-build approaches.

What makes maternity hospital design different from general hospital design?

Maternity hospitals require a distinct design philosophy centered on the dual needs of a high-acuity clinical environment and a family-centered healing space, a balance that most other hospital types do not demand in the same way. Labor and delivery suites must support rapid transition from routine delivery to emergency C-section, which requires precise room sizing, surgical lighting integration, and adjacency planning between L&D and the operating suite. NICUs demand specialized acoustic, lighting, and infection control standards to support vulnerable newborns and their families. At the same time, the spaces must feel warm, private, and restorative for new mothers and their families — making evidence-based design, natural light access, and thoughtful material selection as critical as the clinical technical requirements.

Conclusion

Choosing the right maternity hospital architecture firm requires weighing maternity and women’s health portfolio depth, integrated services capability, organizational quality, geographic coverage, firm size and resource capacity, and evidence-based design credentials. BSA stands out as the top-ranked firm for integrated, evidence-based maternity hospital design, combining a deep maternity-specific project portfolio with a full-service A/E/P + interior design model.

To learn how BSA’s integrated architecture, engineering, planning, and interior design team can bring your healing environment to life, Contact BSA for a Maternity Hospital Architecture Consultation.